


Believer

by Coriana



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Chapter of Collage, Complete, Drama, Evil Spirits All Over Era, Gen, Ghost Hunt Prompt Challenge, Obscure Emotions, One-Shot, Prompt Fic, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 03:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11501226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coriana/pseuds/Coriana
Summary: Kuroda wasn’t a liar.  - Written for the Ghost Hunt Challenge





	Believer

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [ghosthunt_challenge2](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/ghosthunt_challenge2) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Opia n. the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable—their pupils glittering, bottomless and opaque—as if you were peering through a hole in the door of a house, able to tell that there’s someone standing there, but unable to tell if you’re looking in or looking out.

" _I'm not a liar."_

Shibuya-san's eyes stared straight into her own. His dark eyes knew more than she had ever thought to consider before it was too late. He had seen through a façade even she couldn't see through. It was those dark eyes that she had first noticed about him, but had been too unreadable to decipher what was hidden behind them.

Kuroda covered her mouth with her hands, the intensity of the situation pounding on her with no remorse. She already felt beaten and bruised. She didn't know what would be left once they were done with her.

"At first I thought that you had just been pretending to have psychic powers," he said, "But I honestly felt perplexed over the events transpiring, plus Hara-san confirming there was no presence of spirits."

Don't compare me to her, Kuroda begged within herself. There's nothing to compare.

He continued to speak, but so much of it faded into the background. Memories squirmed in the back of her mind, people laughing and pointing and jeering. Girls that would pull her hair and throw the glasses off of her face. If Kuroda hadn't been quick enough to grab her glasses before one of the girls stepped on them, they stepped on her hand instead.

She was never too sure when it really started, but she would imagine it was around that time.

"Since junior high school you were always able to get peoples' attention because of your strong psychic powers. You told people there were evil spirits in the old school building. But… what would have happened if there were no such thing in the building? And if all events that were believed to be spirit-related had actually occurred due to land subsidence?"

Yes, it was around then that she would do anything, and everything, to be noticed, even if there were consequences. Telling everyone she could see spirits and was able to share cool paranormal facts with people had worked for a time, until Kuroda had begun to believe it was true herself. Had begun to think that maybe she _could_ see spirits and wasn't making it all up. It seemed to be after her realization of this when everything crumbled and she had suddenly become an outcast again, but connected with the words 'weirdo' and 'idiot' and the knowledge that she really could see ghosts.

But maybe when she thought about it, perhaps it was what they had always called her behind her back, anyway.

_Spirits are here… They must be. A poltergeist is going to manifest. It must happen._

"The unconscious mind acts on its own," Shibuya-san was saying.

Taniyama-san raised her hand. "Before exams I always wish the entire school will collapse, but it never happens," she said.

"It depends on your talents. I believe Kuroda-san is a latent psychic." He turned towards Kuroda, his eyes regaining her full attention. "You probably do have some form of PK, even if you're not aware of it."

The sentence released a breath Kuroda had been holding. But it was deeper than releasing a breath of air captured in her lungs. It was releasing a doubt and a fear she had been holding onto for many years.

"For Kuroda-san, the existence of evil spirits in the building was necessary. In order to obtain attention from others… no matter if it was good or bad."

Kuroda tried to hold any tears back, tried to hide them behind her glasses. Her glasses, which she had from a young age, had always been there to hide the emotion that was evident in her eyes.

"Wow, I can relate to how that feels," Taniyama-san said. Kuroda turned towards her, only to see her smiling. "The truth is, deep inside… all we want to be is special, I think."

"So you're saying she wouldn't have been stressing out until you mentioned land subsidence," Miko-san said, sending Kuroda's stomach into knots. "Then how do you explain me getting locked in the classroom and Kuroda-san being attacked by the spirit?"

Shibuya-san looked towards Kuroda, "Shall I explain?"

Kuroda swallowed hard, not trusting her voice, and nodded.

"The reason you got locked into the room was caused by this being stuck in the doorsill." Shibuya-san held up the nail, which Kuroda could only assume that he had been carrying around since he picked it up. He knew more than she even wanted to admit.

"I suspected this a while ago, but I didn't think it important enough to tell you."

"A nail?" Miko-san snapped, looking like her entire face exploded. "Someone intentionally did that to me. Who would… _you_?" She rounded on Kuroda, making her step back in fear of Miko-san jumping her.

"I'm sure it was meant to be a small prank," Shibuya-san said. "Right before that, you were giving her a hard time."

"And then what about the broken videotape?"

"It wasn't broken. The footage was intentionally erased."

"Did she do that, too?"

"By the time Mai arrived at the lab that day, Kuroda-san was already there. So most likely, yes." Shibuya-san looked directly at Kuroda, but so was everybody. Miko-san's eyes especially looked like daggers.

Kuroda held her hands tightly, trying to relieve some stress inside of her in any way possible. Her heart was thudding so bad. How could this be, she had never been caught so badly before. She was a better actor than this. No, that's not true, she wasn't acting.

They didn't understand. The spirit really had attacked her. But when she had gotten to the computers to rewatch the footage, excited that she would have the proof to show them… there had been nothing there. It had not shown a spirit pulling at her hair or strangling her. It only left Kuroda confused. She wasn't lying. Had she erased the videotape? She couldn't remember.

A warm hand patted her on the back. A comforting gesture. But Kuroda was too cold to feel any warmth from Taniyama-san's actions.

"But what about the Principal? We were supposed to prepare this building for demolition."

"I plan to tell him many spirits of war victims existed in the building, but we exorcised them all so it's okay to begin."

He looked towards Kuroda again. "Are you okay with that, Kuroda-san?" He prompted a nod from her.

Perhaps his actions seemed kind to everyone in the room, but Kuroda believed he was mocking her. She could see it in his eyes.

"I'm still not convinced," Hara-san said. "Why don't we just tell the Principal the truth?"

Kuroda felt like her lungs would not hold air anymore, like too many holes had been punctured into them by each word spoken, keeping her from drawing a full breath. She glared at Hara-san from behind her glasses, her blood seeming to boil. If people thought Kuroda was a liar, she knew a doll-like person as phony as Hara-san wasn't telling the truth, either.

"Kuroda-san's already feeling bad enough, I don't think we need to make things worse for her," Shibuya-san said.

Kuroda looked at him, and felt relief, and yet fear. They could hide the truth, but they all knew. They all thought that they knew. And there was something about looking into his eyes for the last time, and realizing how truly unreadable they were, so indecipherable. Were they lying to her? Were they trying to convince her of something that wasn't the truth? Trying to tell her she was a liar?

Maybe she was a liar… maybe she really had only been a magician on the stage.

No, she refused to think like that. It was what they wanted her to think.

_I'm not a liar._

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the challenge prompts list by Agwen. 
> 
> *Dialogue translations mostly taken from the manga and novel, with a little bit of the anime and my own flair.


End file.
